Sound advice: Audio options abound for MP3 players

Q I always see questions asked about iPods, but I have another brand of MP3 player. Is there a speaker device for about $200 to play music in my home, and an adapter to use my player with my car's sound system? I really don't want to buy a new car radio, but I would love to use my player to listen to my favorite tunes on a trip.

JAN MEYER, Virginia Beach, Va.

A You can connect your MP3 player to any device having an auxiliary input. You will not have the functionality of a device with a full iPod interface, but you will be able to use your player to listen to music.

You can also use a miniplug-to-RCA adapter to connect your player to a sound system, or even the front audio inputs of your television. The TV's sound won't be hi-fi, but it can serve as background music filling the room. Whenever you use a miniplug connection from the player's headphone output, turn the volume of the player up to about 75 percent to provide a strong signal and then use the device's volume control to set the master volume.

The $199 Cambridge SoundWorks Radio 735i mentioned last week has an auxiliary input and would be a good choice for your home. Another compelling choice is the new foxL (pronounced Fox-ull) from Soundmatters, maker of the popular MAINstage single-piece surround system I have recommended. Less than 6 inches long and 2.25 inches wide, it has sound quality that defies its small size. It is powered by a battery providing five hours of listening per charge or via wall power, which doubles the output wattage.

The $199 foxL is great for adding quality sound to remote laptop computer presentations or as a portable traveling boombox. It can even be worn around your neck on a lanyard.

The $249 foxL mb adds a noise-canceling microphone and Bluetooth to turn it into a hands-free speakerphone for phone conferencing. The Bluetooth can also be used for music streaming from device to speaker.

The foxL models are not yet featured on www.soundmatters.com, but in the meantime I have posted images and a downloadable PDF info sheet on my website if you want to learn more.

If your car radio has a cassette deck, you can use a $15 cassette adapter with your player. You can also use an FM modulator to send the signal through the radio, but sound quality suffers. You might want to check if your car's radio will play MP3 CDs. If it does, just burn MP3s to CD using your music management software. You can fit about 100 songs on a single MP3 CD, so you might be able to carry all the road-going music you want on two or three CDs.